Car-door-operating mechanism.



J. F. 'STREIR OAR DOOR OPERATING MBOHMIISM.v

APPLICATION FILED 00T. 5, 1906.

Patented Aug. 10, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

ug. 10, 1909. 3 SHEETS-'SHEET 2.

(www

' Patented A J. r. STREIVB. GAR DOOR OPERATING MBGHANISM. l APPLIoATIoNFILED oo'r. s, i906. 930,434. 4

!.L i I f I l I l l l I l I l l I l l l l I I l l I I Y fr .i1-I5: .r

wn'nlssls J. PQ'STREIB. CAR DOR OPERATING MECHANISIMI. APPLIUATION FILEDoo'r. 5,4906.

Patented Aug; 1o, 1909.

Y INVENTOR Q1@ @wwzfglqm gli @im 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

wn-NEssEs K l Ww/@mm UMTED STA-ressem- OFFIQE.:

F. sTREiB, or AvALoN, PENNSYLVANIA, -AssieNoR To PREs'sEDs'iEL CARcoMPANY, I i or BITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA; A-coRPoRArIoN or New JERSEY.

l No. ossofise.4

' 'CAR-nooR-OPERATING MEcHANisi/i.

VSpecification of Letters Patent.' PatentedAuga y.10, 1909.

Application aieaf october s, 19,06. serial N. 335,529.

To all ivhom 'it may concern: y l,

Be 1t known vhat I, JOHN F.- STREIB, of Avalon, L Allegheny., county,l 3Pennsylvania, have invented anew 'and' useful Can-DoorL QperatingMechanism, of which the following 1s a full, clear, and exactdescription, 'referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, formingpart of. this specification, in' .which-1 Y Figure l is a transversesectional view of a portion of a car showing, my invention apy pliedthereto; Fig.' 2 is an. end view 'of the ycar l showing onearrangementof o erating mechanism for the creeping shaft; ig., 3 is a side view ofa portion of the car' and Fig. 4 is 'a sectionalll elevation, artlybroken away, .showingthedetails of) the invention as ap- 'plied tothecar.

My invention ating mechanism, and l'is more particularly4 applicable toflat bottom cars having a series downwardly opening doors.

' The object of myinvention 1s to provide doo'i` operating mechanism ofthis character which will dispense with the use ofthe chains'ordinarilyem loyed for opening and closing,

the doors, an 'which will substitute therefor an operating shaftwhioh ismovable'bodily underneath the doors Aand which carriesv a series of armswhich su port the doors inl their closed positions an duringi'th'eopera.

i tion of opemn and closing thesame.

A further o ject is to rovide mechanism of this character which s all besimple and'- positive yin its operation, and which can be4 readilyapplied to cars of various types.

With t ese objects in view my invention consists in the novelconstruction, combinaf out inthe appended claims.

tion and arrangement of parts, all substantially as hereinafterdescribed and pointed In the accompanying drawings, the'numeral 2designates the side of the car, 3 the center sill and 4 one of a seriesof downwardly-opening doors which are 4hinged at 5 to the center sill'3.i

6 designates deep,hollow, transverse members or diaphragms which inconnection with the center and end sill form the under-framing of thecar.

7 designates the door-oplerating shaft which is arranged to control e oeration of four of these shafts, two at each *end portion ol' the car,extending from the center of the .teeth are arranged' to en age theteeth of has relation to car door opere 'plates 6 of the cross-bearer.Each shaft car f* vries a series of upwardly-'extending arms. 11,which,l when the ldoors are in closed positions ,car to the ends'thereof, as shown in 3, Vand one shaft beingarranged at 'each side ofthe car.

Each' shaft extends throughelongated.

slots 8 which are formed in the diaphra m or.

transoins', said slots having the form s lown 'inFig 1', beingdownwardly inclinedfor 'the ymajor portion of v'their lengthswith ashorthorizontally-eXtending portion .8a at. the upper end. Eachjshaft 7isgprovided with flanged Wheels oranti-friction rollers 7 a onvwhich'it'travels through slots 8. Each shaft 7 carries at its inner endportion and also at its intermediate portion a pinion 9 whose..

racks 10 vwhich arefiigid-y securedto 'the l diaphragme or transoms 6.These vracks lare carried by.bracketsf10, which together with thei-nionsv 9, are arranged "and inclosed within` the hollow transversemembers or dia hragms. The shafts 7 are carried on rol ers 7 whichtravel in the vslots 8 in said transverse members or'diaphragins. Racks10 are inverted .so that` their teeth project, A 4 80 downwardlyobviating the tendency of the. teethl to become cloggedwith dust, dirt,-lading, or other foreignmatter. This arrangement oftlie rack is superioralso because there is more room above the elongated slots 8 vvfor thelocation' of said rack than'beby other parts. Rack l10 in this' positiontending between, the two diaphragmeor engage wear plates-1.2 on theunder sides of doors inthe manner shown 'in-Fig. 1. Two of these armsare preferably provided for each door. i

- Each of thearm'sis edge l11a which is adapted to slide on the undersides of the doors when the latter are opened or closed in the mannerhereinafter 100 more fully described. l y

Any suitablemeans, such as a crank or lever, may be employed forrotating the shaft 7 I have, however, illustrated lever and ratchetmeans for this purpose.l which 105 form the subject matter ofthecopending application of Charles A. Lindstrom and myself, Serial No.337,530, filedOctober 5, 1906, Patent NTO.y 847,956, dated March 19,

1907. This mechanism consists of a gear '110 neathit where the space'istaken up largely formed with a convex wheel '13 secured tothe outerendportion of l ythe shaft 7 and which is engaged bythe teeth of a pinionlamounted on a stub shaft 15. The pinion 14 is actuated by means of aratchet wheel-16 on the shaft 15 engaged by a pawl 17 pivoted to a lever18 lwhich is fulcrumed on the end of the stub shaft 15. This lever 18isnormally held in the position shown in Fig. 2 by means of a latchdevice 19. The end portion of the shaft 7 together with the stub shaft15 are arranged to slide lin' a slot 20 in a bracket 21,

the slot 20 being of corres ending form to` the slots in the racks 10 andiaphragm 6.

lTo open the doors, the lever 1-8 is disengaged from thelatch 19 and ismoved upwardly through the'arc of a circle., and then moved toward thelatch' 19 thereby rotating the pinion 14 and the gear wheel 13.' Thiscauses theshaft7 to rotate carrying the cam arm 11 toward the free edgeofthe door i and away from the shoe 12 and causing the shaft 7 to movedownwardly in the slots to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1,the pinions 9 working in the racks 10. At the commencement of thismovement the rounded upper edges of the cani arms 11 slide on the shoes12 until the arms 11 point substantially at the free edges of the doorsafter which, the arms and the doors traveling in the same directionabout their respective mechanism of this character, instead of aK axes,a relative lrolling movement between the doors and larms takes placeandthe latter are gradually lowered to the dotted position shown in Fig.1, further movement of the actuating lever throws the arms 11 into thedotted position shown in said figure. The rack 10, the slot 8 and theshaft 7 with its pinion 9 are so arranged that when the doors are intheir closed position the arms 11 are supporting the doors near the freeedges. One advantage ol" the use ot a cam arm. in a roller or disk, isthat a much, greater drop tothe door 1s permitted as the arm moves outof the Way of the doors descent and upwardly in the slots.

22 designates a' paWl which is loosely sleeved on the end of the shaft 7and which is designed to engage any-one of a series ol teeth 23 on thebracket 21 for the purpose of preventing the door operating shal't fromsliptoward its closed position, and also lor holding the doors in parttally closed positions.

As above'y stated, lthe particular means "herein shown for actuating theshaft' forms no partl of the present invention, and any suitableactuating means may be employed.

The mechanism described forms simple and positive means for effectingthe opening and closing of the doors, whereby chains and otherobjectionable connections whichare in the path of the discharge of thelading, and which are likely to become broken, are dispensed with. y A

Various `changes may be made in the details of ,construction andvarrangement of parts Without departing from the spirit and scope of myinvention, since v l'V hat I claim isal1. In a dump car, a drop door, amovable shaft for opening or closing said door, means limiting themovement of said shalt in the door-closing direction and means betweenthe door and shaft, when the door is closed, tending .to force saidshaft toward said limiting means. 'n

2. In a dump car, a drop door, a rotatable shaft, means for allowing alimited rotation of said shaft, and door-engaging means `rigidly mountedon said shaft in a nosition,

when the door is closed, to exert a everagc opposed to said limitingmeans.

In a dump car, a drop door, a shaft movable bodily through rotation tooperati,

said door, means allowing a limited rotationof said shaft in onedirection, and a doorengaging member rigidly mounted on said shaft in aposition, when the door is closed, to exert on ,saidshal't a leverageopposed to sa id limiting means.

4.. ln a dump car, a drop door, a movable shaft for opening or closingsaid door, means limiting the movement of said shaft in the door-closingdirection and meansbetween the door and shaft, when the door is closed,adapted to exert a leverage `on said shalt opposed to said limitingmeans to prevent rotation ofsaid shaft and thus produce a lock.

5. In a dumpcar, a drop door,`a movable shaft for openingor closing saiddoor, means on one side of the vertical center oi said shai't forlimiting thp movement ol' said shaft in the door-closing direction, andmeans between the door and the shaft, when the door is closed, movableto a position beyond the vertical center ol' said shaft tot he side olsaid shalt opposite the location ol' said limiting means to exert aleverage on said shaft opposed to said limitingl means an l thereb),`formaloclr.

o. ln a. car door operating mechanism, a bodily traveling shattand asui-table guideway tor said shaft formed in the car under- `tramo incombination with a toothed rack ping back while the same 1s being moved;

loca-ted nhove said shai't, a toothed rack ltwated below said shaft, agear carried by said shalt 1n mesh with said upper rach and a.

lll(

loosely mounted pawl camtled -by said shaft for engagement 'with saidlower/rack.'

7 'lhe combination with a car u derframe having deep, hollow transverseIn mbers or diaphragms, a door-operating shaft extend-` ing below aseries-of the doors tobe operated and movable transversely anddownwardly beneath the saine, slots in the said members or diaphragms,pinions onV the shaft, and racks engaged by the pinions, said racks andEinions being inclose-d Within the said m'emers or diaphragms;'substantially nas described.

series of downwardly and inwardly opening doors, and an underframevhaving deep, hollow transverse members between which the doors arehinged, and which are formed with inclined slots in their side walls, ofa door-operating shaft mounted underneath each set of doors to move insaid slots, racks .secured tothe underframe ad'acent to some of theslots, pinions on the s afts engaging the racks, said racks and -pinionsbeing inclosed by the transverse members, doorengaging arms on theshaft, and 4means for actuating the shaft; substantially as described.

' 9. Ina dump carha drop door, a rotatable shaft and a cam arm on saidshaft movable toward the free edge of said door to olpen same and in theopposite direction to c ose sa1ne. S. The combination with a car havinga In testimony whereof, I have hereimto set niy hand.

' JOHN'F.- STREIB.

lWitnesses K. L. ROBINSON,

Il. B. FISHER.

